Adjustable display shelf and like structure



Feb. 7, 1939. H. c. VAN PELT I ADJUSTABLE DISPLAY SHELF AND LIKE STRUCTURE Filed May 22, 1936 Patented Feb. 7,1939

' PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE DISPLAY SHELF AND LIKE STRUCTURE Herbert G. Van .Pelt,

Chicago, Ill., assignor to F. 21!. Noble & 00., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application May 22,

3 Claims.

The present invention relates'to means for supporting a display shelf upon a slender bar or strip, such as the stiff wire arms and loops of wire used in the framework of wire display'racks and stands which are made up in a great variety of designs and which include wire arms, usually horizontal or sometimes inclined, and portions of loops of wire adapted to receive shelves and attachments upon which articles of jewelry or other small articles may be attractively displayed on counters or in show cases and show windows for sale.

It is necessary to advantageous use of such a shelf, or at least highly desirable, that it shall be adjustable to vary its inclination upon its support, and furthermore that the shelf shall not incline from one side to the other. In case the shelf is supported by an ordinary round wire, horizontally disposed, the tilting of the shelf may readily be accomplished by using an ordinary set screw threaded in a block through which the shelf is supported. But in many cases the supporting wire on which such a shelf is designed to be used is square, or of other polygonal shape, because of its less conventional and more distinctly ornamental effect, and in such cases an ordinary set screw cannot be used to effect all degrees of angular adjustment, since unless the axis of the screw is normal to a face of the wire the set screw will impinge at an angle upon the fiat face on the wire and react to cause the shelf to turn upon the wire when it is attempted to tighten the screw to secure the shelf in the particular desired position. It is the object of my invention to provide a mounting for display shelves of the kind mentioned, and for other structures which require similar adjustment, which shall be free from the objections mentioned and shall enable the shelf to be set at any inclination desired with the shelf adjusted so that it shall not incline from side to side. To this end I have devised and invented the adjustable shelf mounting hereinafter described in detail, the essential elements of my invention being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. V

In the drawing Figure 1 is a front view of an ornamental display stand constructed of square wire, carrying a couple of shelves and mountings embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an axial section of a preferred form of my invention; Fig. 3 is another axial section of the same, in a plane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the display shelf and Fig. 5 is a side view, partly in section of a modified form of my invention.

1936, Serial No. 81,152

Like reference characters indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawing.

It will be understood that my invention does not relate to a display stand of any particular design, and that the form of ornamental display stand shown in Fig. l is illustrated by way only of exemplifying the type of structure in which my invention is particularly useful, and exhibiting two horizontal arms I-l to which the adjustable shelf mountings are applied.

The shelf 2 of the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 is formed with a cupped attaching portion 3 which is formed with a slot 4 (see Fig. 4) to receive the shaft of a screw 5 threaded in the upper portion of the body 6 of the mounting. This body is transversely orificed to loosely receive a split bushing I which is confined within the orifice by bending inwardly the material of the body at opposite ends of the bushing, but not sufficiently to prevent it from turning,see Fig. 3. The bushing is formed with a square orifice which makes a snug sliding fit with the horizontal strip of square supporting wire I. The lower portion of the body 6 is threaded to receive a set screw 8, which may suitably be turned by a knurled head 9. As will readily be understood, the body and shelf may be angularly adjusted as a unit upon the bushing 6 when the set screw 8 is loosened, and the set screw then tightened up to clamp the bushing to the wire arm, whatever the angular relation may be between the wire and the body and shelf.

If the supporting wire is horizontal, the adjustment provided by the set screw and bushing will suflice to enable the shelf to be tilted on the wire to any desired inclination of the shelf, without producing any lateral or sidewise inclination of the shelf from side to side. If the supporting wire be inclined however, as when the display shelf is secured to one side or the other of the vertical center, a loop of the supporting wire frame, rotation of the shelf and bushing as a unit will cause the shelf to incline from one side to the other, and may be restored to the horizontal by loosening the screw 5, and then rotating the shelf until it stands horizontally and retightening the screw. The combined adjustments provided by the variable engagement of the screw 5 in the slot 4 of the convex attaching portion 3 of the shelf, and set screw 8 by which the body of the mounting is clamped to the wire strip, provide for considerable range of varying adjustments of position of the shelf determined by the length of the slot 4 of the cupped portion of the shelf.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a more simple connecsupporting wire. It will be noted that in both forms of my invention, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5, the head I of the screw which secures the shelf to the supporting body 6 is depressed below the plane of the shelf proper, so that the screw head forms no 7 obstruction to the placing of a flat article on the shelf for display, and is itself concealed by an article placed thereon.

I claim:

1. Adjustable supporting means for supporting a shelf on a stationary frame strip, said means comprising a supporting body formed with a concave seat, and a threaded screw seat, a split bushing rotatably mounted in said body, said bushing being orificed to receive said strip, a set screw adapted to compress said bushing and clamp it to said supporting strip, and a headed screw engaging the threaded seat in the supporting body, said shelf being formed with a convex portion arranged to cooperate with the said concave seat on the supporting body and orificed to engage the stem of said headed screw.

.2. Adjustable supporting means for supporting a shelf on a stationary frame strip, said means comprising a supporting body formed at its top with a concave seat and a threaded screw seat extending radially downward from the center of said concave seat, a split bushing rotatably mounted in said body, said bushing being orificed to engage said strip, a set screw adapted to compress said bushing and clamp it to said strip, and,

a headed screw engaging the threaded seat in the supporting body, said shelf being formed with a depressed'convex portion seating in said concave seat on the supporting body and formed with a slot arranged to variably engage the stem of said headed screWJ 3. Adjustable supporting means for supporting a shelf on a stationary frame strip, said means comprising a generally cylindrical body formed at its top with a bearing face and an axially threaded seat, a split rotatable bushing transversely housed in said body, said bushing being orificed to slidingly and non-rotatably engage said strip, a manually operable set screw axially threaded in the lower part of said body and adapted to compress said bushing, and a headed screw engaging the threaded seat at the top of said cylindrical body, said shelf being formed with a depressed portion adjacent said bearing face of the cylindrical body and an orifice arranged to engage the stem of said headed screw.

HERBERT C. VAN PELT. 

